If it is successful, Israel will be the fourth country to carry out a controlled 'soft' landing of an unmanned vessel on the moon.

Since 1966, the United States and the former Soviet Union have put around a dozen of them on the moon and China did so in 2013, and earlier this year when it landed on the far side of the moon.

Israel has launched satellites before, but this is the first longer-range Israeli spacecraft of its kind.

The craft, called Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, is shaped like a round table with four carbon-fibre legs, stands about 1.5 meters tall and weighs 585 kg (1,290 lb) - with fuel accounting for two-thirds of that weight.

The time capsule is a single, space-resilient disc, roughly the size of a CD, holding digital files of children's drawings, photographs and information on Israeli culture and the history of humanity.

'The capsule will remain on the moon and stay in the environment of the moon and maybe in a couple tens of years someone will send a spacecraft to bring it back,' Anteby said.

Beresheet is also carrying a device to measure the moon's magnetic fields.

At 60,000 km (37,000 miles) above Earth, the spacecraft will split off from the Falcon launch vehicle.

It will at first orbit Earth in expanding ellipses and, about two months later, cross into the moon's orbit.

It will then slow and carry out a soft landing which should cause no damage to the craft.

'Our landing site is located somewhere between the landing sites of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17,' Anteby said.

'It's a flat area. But still it has small craters and a lot of boulders.'

Israel Aerospace Industries manager Opher Doron stressed that the small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, faces a 'difficult, arduous journey' because it will have to make a number of orbits before landing.

If successful, the team promises the landing will be a breakthrough for Israeli technology and commercial space travel.

Tucked away inside Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander, currently on its way to the Moon, is a massive archive documenting humanity’s achievements.

The collection of images, text and symbols is the first part of a project to build a “Lunar Library” and part of a bigger push to create a space-based archive of Earth.

According to the Arch Mission Foundation (AMF), the library contains 30 million pages of human history that covers a wide range of subjects, languages and time periods, all stored on a DVD-sized archive made of 25 nickel discs that are each only 40 microns thick. An 84-page document that AMF provided to Gizmodo showed subject categories in the time capsule including aerospace, mathematics, women's studies, humor and criminology.

When Gizmodo asked why the full list of contents was not being released, the AMF told the news outlet:

"We’re only announcing some of the content in the library right now because of the various partnerships we have. Much more content will be revealed. ... Rather than rely on problematic curations of material, we want to include the full breadth and diversity of recorded human knowledge and culture and a record of the life and civilization of planet Earth."

There will be more discs sent to the Moon in the coming years, including in partnership with Astrobotic next year.

The Beresheet lander was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and could reach the Moon by April 11. The lander and its time capsule will remain on the Moon indefinitely.

The Moon looms large for a number of countries’ space programs. China, for example, recently became the first country to successfully land a probe on the far side of the Moon when the Chang’e 4 lander reached the lunar surface on Jan. 2.

An Israeli spacecraft is headed for the moon, slated to touch down April 11 within Mare Serenitatis on the northern hemisphere of the moon's near side. Onboard is an experiment, smaller than a computer mouse, that could enable spot-on touchdowns of future robotic and human-carrying landers.

The Beresheet spacecraft, whose name means "genesis" or "in the beginning" in Hebrew, launched on Feb. 21. The explorer is a joint project of the nonprofit group SpaceIL and the company Israel Aerospace Industries. Since liftoff, Beresheet has been performing a methodical series of orbit-raising maneuvers around the Earth to place itself into lunar orbit, then attempt a landing.

Along for the hop to the moon is a NASA laser retro-reflector array comprised of eight mirrors made of quartz cube corners that are set into a dome-shaped aluminum frame. That array is lightweight, radiation-hardened and long-lived.

Precision landings
If Beresheet successfully plants itself on the moon on April 11, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will eventually use its laser altimeter to shoot laser pulses at the retro-reflector. Using this technique, Beresheet's lunar location can be pinpointed to within 4 inches (10 centimeters), project team members have said.

NASA is interested in dotting the moon with many such retro-reflectors in the future. These would serve as permanent "fiducial markers" on the moon, meaning future craft could use them as points of reference to make precision landings.

The instrument NASA placed on Beresheet, called the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/MIT Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA) for Lunar Landers, is located on the top side of the Israeli lander so it can be seen from above.

After slowly spiraling away from Earth for the past six weeks, an Israeli spacecraft known as Beresheet slipped into orbit around the moon today (April 4).

This was a historic achievement for the little robot, but it paves the way for something truly epic: a lunar touchdown attempt a week from now. If Beresheet succeeds on April 11, it will become the first Israeli craft, and the first privately funded vehicle, ever to land softly on the surface of the moon.

"The lunar capture is an historic event in and of itself — but it also joins Israel in a seven-nation club that has entered the moon’s orbit," Morris Kahn said in a statement. "A week from today, we'll make more history by landing on the moon, joining three superpowers who have done so. Today I am proud to be an Israeli."

Kahn chairs SpaceIL, the nonprofit organization that runs Beresheet's mission along with Israel Aerospace Industries, the nation's largest aerospace and defense contractor.

The superpowers he referenced are the deep-pocketed governments of the Soviet Union, the United States and China. So, Beresheet also aims to strike a blow for low-cost space exploration; the total mission price tag, including launch, is about $100 million, project team members have said.

Beresheet's mission got its start in 2011, when SpaceIL formed to compete in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP).

The GLXP challenged privately funded teams to land a robot on the moon, move it at least 1,650 feet (500 meters) on the surface and have it beam high-resolution imagery home to Earth. The first group to accomplish these tasks would get $20 million, and the second-place team would snare $5 million. An additional $5 million was available for various special accomplishments, bringing the total purse to $30 million.

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft snapped a stunning picture of the moon moments before it crashed into the lunar surface Thursday.

The spacecraft experienced an engine problem seconds before it was expected to reach the moon. Beresheet was just a few hundred feet above the lunar surface when Mission Control in Yehud, Israel, lost contact with the probe.

The lander would have been the first private mission to reach the moon.

Beresheet, which is Hebrew for “in the beginning,” was developed by the Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.

“Preliminary data supplied by the engineering teams of SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) suggests a technical glitch in one of Beresheet’s components triggered the chain of events yesterday that caused the main engine of the spacecraft to malfunction,” the mission explained in a statement released Friday.

“Without the main engine working properly, it was impossible to stop Beresheet’s velocity. Beresheet overcame the issue by restarting the engine. However, by that time, its velocity was too high to slow down and the landing could not be completed as planned.

“Data show that the first technical issue occurred 14 km (8.7 miles) above the Moon. Contact with spacecraft was lost when it was 150 meters (492 feet) above the lunar surface. Beresheet was moving vertically at 500 km/h (310.7 mph) to the inevitable collision with the lunar surface,” the mission explained.

“Comprehensive tests will be held next week to gain a better understanding of the events,” it added.

Beresheet snapped a selfie as it approached the lunar surface, which was greeted with excited applause in Mission Control. Just moments later, however, the team that built the washing machine-size probe looked on in horror as it became clear that the audacious mission had failed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the audience in a packed Mission Control for the landing attempt, which was broadcast live on national television.

“We will try again,” Netanyahu said. “We reached the moon, but we want to land more comfortably, and that is for the next time.”

The unmanned spacecraft would have taken Israel into an exclusive club of space-exploring nations. Only three countries — the US, the Soviet Union and China — have made successful “soft landings” on the lunar surface.

Israel, however, is one of just seven countries to have orbited the moon, thanks to the Beresheet mission.

“Condolences to the Beresheet lander @TeamSpaceIL for what almost was! Communications were lost with the spacecraft just 150 meters (!!!) above the surface, and it couldn’t quite stick the landing. Never lose hope — your hard work, teamwork, and innovation is inspiring to all!,” he tweeted.

Beresheet was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 21.

The mission was born out of the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition to land an unmanned probe on the moon. The $30 million competition was scrapped with no winner last year after the organizers said none of the five finalists would make the March 31, 2018, deadline for a moon launch, Space.com reported.

Nonetheless, the XPRIZE Foundation awarded a $1 million Moonshot Award to SpaceIL for its achievement for its successful entry into lunar orbit and its attempt to land on the lunar surface.

“SpaceIL’s mission not only touched the Moon, it touched the lives and hearts of an entire world that was watching,” said Peter H. Diamandis, executive chairman and founder of XPRIZE, in a statement.

“The legacy SpaceIL will have on the future of the space industry is significant. This team’s ability to build a lunar lander for $100 million and less than 50 engineers is remarkable, a leap forward towards affordable and accessible space exploration.”

It seems a little odd that the spacecraft failed almost at the last moment.
One has to wonder if sabotage was a factor.

Click to expand...

There's a story they set off charges on the moon in 60's & 70's. The moon rang like a bell for hours which would have upset the interior residents. If the story is true it would confirm the moon has a reactive hull.

"We're going to actually build a new halalit — a new spacecraft," billionaire businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn said in a video statement posted on Twitter by the nonprofit group SpaceIL. "We're going to put it on the moon, and we're going to complete the mission."

The work on Beresheet 2.0 will begin immediately, he added: the team is meeting this weekend to start planning the new project.

Kahn is president of SpaceIL, which built and operated Beresheet along with the company Israel Aerospace Industries. He also funded the mission to a large degree, covering about 40% of its total $100 million price tag.

The little robot spent the next six weeks pushing its orbit slowly outward, getting closer and closer to the moon. On April 4, Beresheet was captured by lunar gravity, making Israel just the seventh nation to put a probe in orbit around the moon.

The touchdown attempt came a week later. Success would have granted Israel entry into an even more exclusive club; to date, only the Soviet Union, the United States and China have pulled off a soft lunar touchdown.

And those missions were all government-funded. Beresheet was aiming to become the first privately funded craft ever to explore the moon's surface.

But it wasn't to be. Beresheet suffered an engine glitch during its descent Thursday and slammed into the gray dirt at 310 mph (500 km/h).

SpaceIL started out as an entrant in the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million competition designed to spur private space exploration. The GLXP ended last year without a winner, but SpaceIL keep working on its mission, as did several other teams.

X Prize officials announced shortly after Thursday's crash that the Beresheet team will still get a special $1 million award.

"I think they managed to touch the surface of the moon, and that's what we were looking for for our Moonshot Award," said X Prize CEO Anousheh Ansari.

Beresheet's main goals were to advance Israel's space program and to generate excitement about science, technology, engineering and math among young people. And the mission succeeded in both of these aims, even though it didn't nail the landing, Beresheet team members have said.

A preliminary investigation into what caused Israel's Beresheet spacecraft to crash-land on the moon April 11 puts the apparent blame on a "manual command" that was entered into the spacecraft's computer.

"This led to a chain reaction in the spacecraft, during which the main engine switched off, which prevented it from activating further," according to a statement released today (April 17) by Beresheet's handlers, the nonprofit group SpaceIL and the company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Teams continue to investigate further, in order to understand the full picture of what occurred during the mission, the statement says. "In the coming weeks, final results of the investigation will be released."

LRO lookout
Meanwhile, researchers are on the lookout for a NASA piggyback experiment that may have survived Beresheet's destructive April 11 crash landing.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will target the crash site repeatedly, eyeing the area with its high-powered cameras. In addition, LRO will use its onboard Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) in an attempt to detect a NASA-provided laser retro-reflector array in the Beresheet wreckage zone.

The size of a computer mouse, LRA is composed of eight mirrors made of quartz cube corners that are set into a dome-shaped aluminum frame. That array is lightweight, radiation-hardened and long-lived.

From the high-flying LRO, laser beams generated by LOLA would strike the device and then bounce back to the orbiter. For each laser beam, LOLA measures its time of flight, or range.

Overhead passes

While there will be many attempts to target the wreckage, LRO is directly over the site only twice per month, and one of those passes occurs in darkness (which is not an issue for the laser), explained the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's David Smith, the principal investigator for LOLA and an emeritus researcher at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"But the site can be viewed on several passes around the 'overhead' pass by looking off to the side or forward or backward. This requires the spacecraft to slew or roll to see the target," Smith said.

"That's a decision that LRO makes to ensure there are no issues with regard to constraints on pointing close to the sun or star cameras being able to see the stars (and not the lunar surface)," he added., So, the process requires requests for slew and role magnitudes and directions to the LRO project for a specific observation time.

Pointing requests
This is normal procedure, Smith said, but typically researchers need to submit pointing requests about a week in advance. That allows the LRO project to check on pointing abilities (there are limits) of LRO and on thermal effects and spacecraft solar array pointing for charging the batteries.

"It may take 10 to 15 minutes for the spacecraft to turn to the desired direction and another 15 minutes to return to its normal nadir mode for just a few seconds of observations," Smith told Inside Outer Space.

"I am sure the project will start to attempt observations as soon as possible," Smith said. LRO's camera system and the laser are co-boresighted, "so when the camera slews to take an image, the laser altimeter automatically goes with it and will attempt to make a range observation at the same time."

At a speed of over 3,300 mph (5,310 km/h), the whole LRO observation period is over in a few seconds, Smith said.

They currently believe a manual command entered into the craft's computer caused it crash.

the apparent blame on a "manual command" that was entered into the spacecraft's computer.

"This led to a chain reaction in the spacecraft, during which the main engine switched off, which prevented it from activating further," according to a statement released today (April 17) by Beresheet's handlers, the nonprofit group SpaceIL and the company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).